Newsletter Archive

Is the U.S. really “ready, willing and able” to “totally destroy” North Korea, as President Trump asserted during his speech to the UN General Assembly? An analyst tells VOA the U.S. “better be ready to go all in and be ready to finish it,” if it takes a military approach to ending North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

Blasphemy is serious topic in Pakistan. Those convicted of insulting God, Islam or religious leaders can face life imprisonment or even death. Violent mobs sometimes take matters into their own hands. Rights groups say some blasphemy accusations are really aimed at settling personal disputes, and the accused often don’t get a fair trial.

The exploits of the Khmer Krom, ethnic Cambodians living in South Vietnam who fought alongside U.S. troops during the Vietnam War, could easily have been lost to history if not for the efforts of one U.S. soldier fighting a new battle: Making sure his former comrades in arms get the recognition they deserve.

Indonesia’s only Islamic school for transgender people – which recently reopened following a wave of anti-LGBT hysteria last year – is more than simply a place for religious study. It’s also a lifeline of services and just ordinary social life for the local transgender community.

Child labor in Lebanon was already a deep-seated problem, and the influx of Syrian refugees only made it worse. But NGOs are working to re-integrate children back into educational systems, meaning the fight is on to help youngsters reclaim their childhood.

The wires bringing high-speed internet to rural communities like Custer County, Nebraska, are having an impact similar to that of the wires that brought electricity to the region a century ago.  Lives are transformed by the economic, social and educational opportunities technology offers.